Trump Tells Cook to Stop Building iPhones in India and Build in the U.S. Instead [Video]

President Donald Trump says he confronted Apple CEO Tim Cook over the company's expanding iPhone production in India, urging him to bring manufacturing back to the United States. During a state visit to Qatar, Trump revealed details of the exchange, expressing frustration that Apple was investing heavily in Indian factories despite a previous $500 billion commitment to the U.S. economy.

Trump recounted the conversation with Cook: "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, Tim, you're my friend, I treated you very good. You're coming in with $500 billion, but now I hear you're building all over India. I don't want you building in India." Trump added that Apple could build in India "if you want to take care of India," but emphasized, "We want you to build here." He also mentioned that Apple would be "upping their production in the United States."




The President's remarks land as Apple is already pushing to move more iPhone production to India, with the goal of most U.S.-bound iPhones being assembled there by late 2026. It's all part of Apple's larger plan to look beyond China for its supply chain, a strategy hastened by recent tariff policies and global politics. Indeed, we've seen reports on Apple stockpiling inventory and tapping India more to soften tariff blows, and new facilities like a Tata Electronics plant have just kicked off iPhone production.

Trump also referenced Apple's previous pledge to invest $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. In his remarks, he mentioned ongoing tariff negotiations, stating India had "offered us a deal where basically they're willing to literally charge us no tariff." This is notable as the U.S. recently exempted key technology imports, including smartphones and computers, from new reciprocal tariffs that had threatened to increase costs. Apple supplier TSMC has also broken ground on its third Arizona chip plant as part of its U.S. expansion.

Please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for more updates on tariffs affecting Apple.

Check out the full statement by President Trump in the video below...





Transcript:
"We have Apple, as you know, is coming in. And I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, Tim, you're my friend, I treated you very good. You're coming in with $500 billion, but now I hear you're building all over India. I don't want you building in India. You can build in India if you want to take care of India. Cuz India's the highest, one of the highest tariff nations in the world. It's very hard to sell into India. And they've offered us a deal where basically they're willing to literally charge us no tariff. So we go from the highest tariff, you couldn't do business in India. We're not even a top 30 in India because the tariff is so high to a point where they have actually told us, I assume you too, Scott, you were working on that also, that there will be no tariff, right? Would you say that's a difference? They're the highest and now they're saying no tariff. But I said to Tim, I said, Tim, look, we've treated you really good. We've put up with all the plants that you built in China for years. Now you gotta build us. We're not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves. They're doing very well. We want you to build here and they're gonna be upping their production in the United States. Apple, so Apple's already in for 500 billion. But they're gonna be upping their production, so it'll be great."